


Coming Home

by ixtecastles (spacerace)



Category: Half Life Trilogy - Sally Green
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Reunions, Series Spoilers, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 08:25:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9876356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacerace/pseuds/ixtecastles
Summary: Spoilers for the end of Half Lost!





	

It was a surreal image to stand before Gabriel's grave. The grass was bathed in a soft pale glow; fireflies played a light show to accompany the off beat symphony of sharp singing cicadas. Nighttime would drape a soothing blanket over these hills soon. Another day would pass here, and he would repeat it, and nothing would change. He would have his place by the river and his vision would remain an empty, betraying lie.

Nathan blinked. A half shift of his body weight forward and the whole thing was shaken apart. Fireflies soared to the sky to take places as stars, and he couldn't help but think it beautiful. They were gold. Gold, shaking through green grass and moving, always moving. They twisted and danced, and lit up and faded. He saw eyes in their moving mystic music, and he suddenly hated that he'd scared them away. He'd lost them. Another chunk of gold, faded, twisting, blooming out of his sight. No more fireflies. No more gold in eyes. Like a snapped twig in his chest, the cicadas song became annoying. His irritation mounted, then peaked, all within seconds — one swift motion: he'd kicked out at the grass. Cicadas leaped from the grass, but they didn't stop crying out, never, so he kicked again. And again. And again. He stomped and felt adrenaline coursing in his veins, and, "Fuck!"

_"Do you have to swear so much?"_

A gentle breeze carried Gabriel's voice past his ear, and he swore, swore, he felt smirking lips grace his throat. But it was all in his head, because he was so surely going insane out here. Another wind. The tear that'd decided to sit heavily under his eye was shaken loose and blown away by an unusually strong wind. His thoughts immediately went to Mercury, but of course, she was dead, so he went back to thinking of Gabriel. Also dead. Lovelier to think about, though harder and more painful. It always came back to Gabriel. 

Nathan blinked, then it was dark. The chirping never stopped, and the fireflies did not come back. He felt bad about wrecking so many of the cicadas in his fit, but he was more upset that he'd done so on Gabriel's grave. Now the death bed of many little bugs; victims of anger. His anger. Nothing should be hurt near Gabriel's grave, he thought, moving to sit on the grass next to it. His fingers dug into the earth. Nathan relished the feeling of cool dirt between his fingers, of the buzzing energy he felt from being connected to the Earth. To his magic, and his animal, his father, and to Gabriel. The dirt could be fingers between his. Nathan stares holes into Gabriel's resting place, and he starts to move towards it, but stops because he can't bring himself to draw his fingers out from the ground. The pulsing there is like a heartbeat, and it's steady, familiar. It feels good, and right. But he wants to be closer to Gabriel again. Yet — a thought interrupts the frustration that threatens to build in his chest. He remembers how he once thought that this would be such a nice spot to plant a tree.

oOo

 

It's surprisingly simple to become the tree. There is no pain or hesitation in joining the earth. Unsure of if he will ever return — if he even could —, Nathan let's the new adrenaline of nature and pure magic take over. He feels his spirit stretch towards the sky as it simultaneously winds and coils it's roots down into the earth. It touches water and breaks past rocks, resists all elements until it's satisfied. Just like the animal. The roots do not wilt to anybody's command. They are nature, and they stop when they are satisfied, and everything is good.

It's dark.

Nathan's eyes open, and then it's not dark, but he's not where he once was. This is France. Wales. It's a circular field with a good, strong river, surrounded by thick forest. There is a cottage with a garden. The sun is bearing down overhead, and it's hot, but it's fine because there is a good breeze. 

Night should be coming soon.

Nathan breathes. It's silent. This is a familiar scene. His heart is hammering in his chest, spreading anticipation through him so much is feels like anxiety. A prophecy unwrapping itself. He knows how it will end.

The seconds drag by. He does not move. A bird flies from its branch, the clouds laze by, and then a shadow interrupts his from behind and he's turning, and — 

Any other time he would have been lethal.

This time he is held.

The fireflies are back and the cicadas are quiet, because he is not alone, and this time the eyes are real and not bugs, and there is no reason for tears.

"You've been away a long time. Were you lost?" Nathan's voice is hoarse. It cracks.

Gabriel smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Yikes. I accidentally fucked up the tenses. 'Scuse me.


End file.
